Pre-design consultancy (Is development feasible in the context of trees?)


Visit to discuss with informal advice on constraints and development potential:

This advice is popular for the commercial developer, who can gain a broad indication of development potential before committing to buying a site. It is also useful for site owners who are unsure of the potential of their site; if onerous tree constraints are identified at an early stage, funds can be focused where they will be most effective and not wasted on preparing detailed proposals with a low chance of success. This is a commonly used option because, through a visit and discussion, we can provide a preliminary estimate of the development potential without the expense of a land survey or unproductive design work.

Our constraints plan shows the space available for buildings and infrastructure. Only the areas with hatching have tree restrictions; the most sensitive areas are shown with the black diagonal-hatching and the less sensitive areas with the orange cross-hatching. This visual information helps the architect maximise the development potential, whilst minimising any conflicts with important trees.

Formal constraints report:

Knowing about tree constraints is essential if you are to maximise the potential of the site and trees are to be properly considered in the planning process. Our constraints report identifies the area available for development on a plan, with further explanations and clarifications in the text. To produce this report, we will visit the site and collect tree data as recommended in BS 5837. This will be presented as a formal report including a plan illustrating the estimated tree constraints. As advocated in BS 5837, this constraints information is intended to guide the design process and is not necessarily needed as supporting information with a planning submission. We normally direct the report primarily to the architect and only submit it as supporting information with an application if requested by the council.

Formal pre-application consultation report:

This report format is relevant where the council are receptive to pre-application discussion and prepared to constructively comment on draft proposals. It is useful to the council because it allows the impact on trees to be assessed at a glance. It is also beneficial to the applicant because it delays the time and cost of preparing the detailed tree protection proposals until the final layout has been agreed. To produce this report, we will visit the site and collect tree data as recommended in BS 5837. We would then provide informal constraints advice to the architect who will use that to prepare a draft layout (see constraints option above). We will prepare our formal, but preliminary, arboricultural impact appraisal report as a discussion document for a pre-application meeting with the council. It will include a summary of the impact of the proposal on trees, but will not include any detailed specifications for tree protection.

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